DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 4, 7, 10, and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johansson, US 5,988,940 in view of JP ‘906 (2001131906).
Regarding claim 1, Johannson teaches a scraper arrangement for a soil working roller of a soil working machine, comprising
an elongated scraper bar which continuously extends in the direction of a longitudinal bar axis and is to be attached by means of at least two (Figure 2) articulated units to a machine frame of a soil working machine so as to be pivotable between an active position and an inactive position (“dual-position”, one position is a working position in which the scraper is held in contact with the surface of the roller cylinder, and the other position is a rest position in which the scraper can be lifted completely clear of the cylinder surface; column 1 lines 28-33).
While Johansson fails to disclose the elements of the articulated units as claimed, JP ‘906 discloses a pivotable scraper arrangement for a rolling compaction vehicle and discloses each articulated unit of the scraper arrangement comprising:
- a first articulated carrier element (angled plate+32a+32b shown in Figure 9) intended to be fixed to a machine frame,
- a second articulated carrier element (28) intended to be fixed to the scraper bar,
- at least one first articulated connection element (31a), wherein the at least one first articulated connection element (31a) is pivotably connected to the first articulated carrier element about a first pivot axis (pivot point shown in Figures 4a-2 and 4b-2 connected to 31a) in a first pivot coupling region (the area of the connection) of the at least one first articulated connection element (31a) and is pivotably connected to the second articulated carrier element (28) about a second pivot axis (pivot point shown in Figures 4a-2 and 4b-2 at the intersection of 31a and 28) which is substantially parallel to the first pivot axis in a second pivot coupling region (the area of the connection of 31a and 28) of the at least one first articulated connection element (31a), and
- at least one second articulated connection element (31b), wherein the at least one second articulated connection element (31b) is pivotably connected to the first articulated carrier element (angled plate+32a+32b shown in Figure 9) about a third pivot axis (pivot point shown in Figures 4a-2 and 4b-2 at the intersection of 31b and 32b) which is substantially parallel to the first pivot axis in a first pivot coupling region (the area of the connection of 31b and 32b) of the at least one second articulated connection element and is pivotably connected to the second articulated carrier element (28) about a fourth pivot axis (pivot point shown in Figures 4a-2 and 4b-2 at the intersection of 31b and 28) which is substantially parallel to the third pivot axis in a second pivot coupling region (the area of the connection of 31b and 28) of the at least one second articulated connection element.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute Johansson’s at least two articulated units to each be the articulated unit disclosed by JP ‘906 as an alternative linkage mechanism to pivot the scraper bar.
Regarding claim 4, the scraper arrangement of claim 1 further includes the at least one first articulated connection element (JP ‘906’s 31a) being pivotably connected in its first pivot coupling region to the first articulated carrier element (JP ‘906’s plate+32a+32b) by a pivot pin (pivot pin shown at the intersection of 31a and 32a in JP 906’s Figure 9a and 9b) about the first pivot axis. The remaining limitations, since they follow “and/or”, are not required.
Regarding claim 7, the resulting combination includes the limitation claimed since as shown in JP ‘906’s Figures 9a and 9b, and see Figure 9a reproduced below with Examiner’s annotations),
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a distance between the first pivot axis and the third pivot axis corresponds to a distance between the second pivot axis and the fourth pivot axis.
Regarding claim 10, JP ‘906 further discloses a prestressing arrangement (JP ‘906’s 46+47; Figure 3) is provided, wherein the prestressing arrangement prestresses (by applying a stress to maintain) the scraper bar into the inactive position when the scraper bar is positioned in the inactive position and prestresses (by applying a stress to maintain) the scraper bar into the active position when the scraper bar is positioned in the active position. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the resulting combination to include a prestressing arrangement in view of JP ‘906’s further disclosure as discussed above to help the scraper bar in the inactive position or the active position.
Regarding claim 12, as shown in JP ‘906’s Figures 9a and 9b, the scraper arrangement of claim 1 includes at least one articulated connected element of the first articulated connection element (31a) and second articulated connection element (31b) being tiltable with respect to the respective pivot axis. The remaining limitations following “and/or” are not required.
Regarding claim 13, Johansson teaches soil compacting machine, in particular soil compactor, comprising at least one soil tilling/compacting roller ("for compacting materials, primarily...earth" which is soil; Abstract and Figure 2) and in association with at least one soil tilling/compacting roller, at least one scraper arrangement (Abstract) comprising an elongated scraper bar which continuously extends in the direction of a longitudinal bar axis and is pivotably attachable by at least two (Figure 2) articulated units to a machine frame so as to be movable between an active position and an inactive position (“dual-position”, one position is a working position in which the scraper is held in contact with the surface of the roller cylinder, and the other position is a rest position in which the scraper can be lifted completely clear of the cylinder surface; column 1 lines 28-33).
While Johansson fails to the elements of the articulated units as claimed, JP ‘906 discloses a pivotable scraper arrangement for a rolling compaction vehicle and discloses each articulated unit of the scraper arrangement comprising:
- a first articulated carrier element (angled plate+32a+32b shown in Figure 9) intended to be fixed to a machine frame,
- a second articulated carrier element (28) intended to be fixed to the scraper bar,
- at least one first articulated connection element (31a), wherein the at least one first articulated connection element (31a) is pivotably connected to the first articulated carrier element about a first pivot axis (pivot point shown in Figures 4a-2 and 4b-2 connected to 31a) in a first pivot coupling region (the area of the connection) of the at least one first articulated connection element (31a) and is pivotably connected to the second articulated carrier element (28) about a second pivot axis (pivot point shown in Figures 4a-2 and 4b-2 at the intersection of 31a and 28) which is substantially parallel to the first pivot axis in a second pivot coupling region (the area of the connection of 31a and 28) of the at least one first articulated connection element (31a), and
- at least one second articulated connection element (31b), wherein the at least one second articulated connection element (31b) is pivotably connected to the first articulated carrier element (angled plate+32a+32b shown in Figure 9) about a third pivot axis (pivot point shown in Figures 4a-2 and 4b-2 at the intersection of 31b and 32b) which is substantially parallel to the first pivot axis in a first pivot coupling region (the area of the connection of 31b and 32b) of the at least one second articulated connection element and is pivotably connected to the second articulated carrier element (28) about a fourth pivot axis (pivot point shown in Figures 4a-2 and 4b-2 at the intersection of 31b and 28) which is substantially parallel to the third pivot axis in a second pivot coupling region (the area of the connection of 31b and 28) of the at least one second articulated connection element. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute Johansson’s at least two articulated units to each be the articulated unit disclosed by JP ‘906 as an alternative linkage mechanism to pivot the scraper bar.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3, 5-6, 8-9, and 11 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 14-16 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 4, 7, 10, and 12 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Specifically, Applicant amended claims 1 and 13 to require an elongated scraper bar that continuously extends in the direction of a longitudinal bar axis, and argues that the scraper bar of JP ‘906 is segmented and does not continuously extend. This argument, and all of the arguments pertaining to a single, uninterrupted scraper bar, are moot in view of the rejection above which no longer relies on JP ‘906’s scraper bar.
Applicant does not provide any arguments to the rejections to dependent claims, only relying on the arguments for claims 1 and 13 which have been addressed.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KATHERINE J CHU whose telephone number is 571-272-7819. The examiner can normally be reached M-F generally 9:30-5:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher Sebesta can be reached at 571-272-0547. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KATHERINE J CHU/ Examiner, Art Unit 3671
/CHRISTOPHER J SEBESTA/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3671
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